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From the NAI Archive – June 12, 2015 – The NXT Day – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Author’s Note: This column was written and intended to be posted Thursday, but with the passing of Dusty Rhodes, I decided to save it.

This week’s NXT, looking at it on paper, should have been right up this Chief of Staff’s alley. It featured some of my favorite Full Sail figures, yet I found myself grumbling more than usual as I watched last night and this morning. Really, NXT featured the Good, the Bad and the downright Ugly. In the efforts to #PromotePositivity, I’ll try to get the negatives out of the way, so we can end on a high note.

The Ugly

NAI Hall of Famer and, in this man’s opinion, the best wrestling writer on the planet Shannon Scott has claimed to be covering this topic in greater detail in a future column, but until then, I have to ask.

What the hell was going on with Bull Dempsey last night?

Seriously, what was that? I’m all for Dempsey being given something to do, but that’s what the NXT braintrust came up with? A fat guy gimmick? This is really the best they can do?

What makes it even worse is that your ‘main event’ feud right now features Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens, who are in similar, if not “worse”, shape than Dempsey is?

The only saving grace was that being the amazing talent that he is, Bull actually made such a stupid idea entertaining.

Look, this is developmental, right? You’re supposed to be grooming these guys to get to the next level? How on Earth is what I just saw going to do that? Besides showing a different side of the Dempsey personality, all that showed me was that NXT has given up on Bull, and that’s. . . Well. . . Bull!

The Bad

If there’s somebody on the NXT roster who the general population likes even less than Dempsey, it’s Mojo Rawley, and Mr. “Stay Hyped” made his in-ring return last night, much to many of our collective chagrins.

Look, I don’t mind the idea of him teaming up with Ryder. I love that Zack is on NXT and I think this could be a very good thing for him. Again, though, I go back to the purpose of developmental. Rawley being the guy with 5 hour energy flowing through his veins isn’t going to work on the WWE roster. Unless he’s a Bo-liever, but I’ve taken you all down that road before.

Maybe this tandem will catch on and do some good things, and perhaps Mojo’s character will evolve over the weeks, but right now, I’m still not buying the Hype.

The Good

Jason Jordan and Chad Gable haven’t had a match together on NXT television yet. In fact, they haven’t been in the NXT arena at the same time yet, from all I’ve seen, but these two are already my #2 favorite tag team in Full Sail, trailing only the Vaudevillains. Gable is owning his ‘Angle-esque’ persona and Jordan is doing an equally solid job playing the “Steve Blackman in Head Cheese” role.

If these guys get any sort of shot, they’re going to turn a lot of heads, and sell a lot of towels.

Samoa Joe made his NXT debut, Kevin Owens was on commentary, and life was good. That may well be the only Muscle Buster we ever see on WWE television, what with Tyson Kidd’s broken neck and all. We don’t know how the injury happened – For all we know, it occurred during a completely unrelated part of the match, but I think Joe’s finisher is going to take the lion’s share of the blame here.

I don’t want to go too far down the ‘dangerous move’ rabbit hole right now, but suffice to say, the Muscle Buster qualifies. Plus, it’s almost like Ryback’s finisher, and Ryback was there first. Scoff if you must, but those things count in WWE.

Finally, and not like I watched them, but we had 2, yes 2 women’s matches on NXT! Plus, Blue Pants! How can that not be a good thing?

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What do YOU think? Thoughts on Dempsey’s gimmick? Favorite part of NXT? Be Heard.

From the NAI Archive – June 12, 2015 – The NXT Day – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly